Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley tackled and tased during police encounter
Fred Kerley, an Olympic track star, was taken into custody in Florida late Thursday following a clash with law enforcement.
Video from police body cameras, provided by the Miami Beach Police Department, captures Kerley—who recently earned a bronze medal in the men’s 100-meter dash—having a verbal exchange with several officers before he is punched and brought down to the ground. Subsequently, an officer used a stun gun to incapacitate Kerley before applying handcuffs.
Kerley faces charges of battery, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct, and was booked into jail early Friday, according to public records. He was released later that afternoon.
As of Friday afternoon, there was no attorney mentioned in the online court records for Kerley, and his agent had not responded to requests for comments. Additionally, representatives from USA Track & Field did not reply immediately to an email inquiry.
According to a police report, Kerley was reported to have an “aggressive demeanor” when he approached a police scene unrelated to him while trying to reach his nearby parked vehicle. Officers claim that he “sought to push past” two officers even after being asked to avoid the area. An officer attempted to make contact with Kerley, to which he responded by swatting away the officer’s arm.
During the ensuing scuffle, officers stated that four of them tried to apprehend Kerley as he made “evasive movements to escape arrest.” The report details that an officer threw several hammer fist strikes toward Kerley’s head and upper body in an effort to control him before resorting to the stun gun.
“Stop resisting!” one officer was heard saying to Kerley as he lay on the ground, according to the recordings.
“I’m not resisting, get off of me, bro,” Kerley responded while repeatedly calling the officers “weak” using explicit language.
A crowd gathered nearby during the incident, as shown in the footage, with many onlookers filming the altercation. An individual accompanying Kerley, identified in the police report as his girlfriend, can be heard yelling “stop!” multiple times during and after the event.
“He did nothing wrong!” she exclaimed to the officers. “We were just walking to our car! Our car is right there!”
29-year-old Kerley has established himself as one of the premier sprinters globally and a prominent member of Team USA. After transitioning from the 400-meter event, he won a stunning silver medal in the men’s 100-meter dash at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. He later secured a world championship in the same event in 2022, followed by another Olympic medal (bronze) at last summer’s Paris Games.